


Swiping Right

by HalfASlug



Category: Broadchurch
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-08
Updated: 2017-05-08
Packaged: 2018-10-29 13:24:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10854891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HalfASlug/pseuds/HalfASlug
Summary: Ellie pesters Hardy about his date the previous night.





	Swiping Right

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt from someone on tumblr: Ellie finding out more about Hardy's infamous tinder date

“Are you seriously not going to tell me how it went?”

“No.”

Ellie was settled on the sofa in Hardy’s office going through the statements from people at the party. She could have been at her own desk, but it was harder to annoy him from there.

“Go on, tell me her name at least.”

He carried on typing as though she hadn’t spoken.

“You spend the evening with this woman and - it was a woman, right?”

“Yes.”

“And you haven’t got a single thing to say? Nothing about the food or what she wore or anything?”

“Food was okay. She wore clothes.”

“And was she wearing them the entire time or-”

“Miller!”

She stifled her laughter and went back to the statements. If she wasn’t mistaken, she could see Hardy repeatedly pressing the backspace on his computer, as though he been fake typing while she was talking.

“How did you meet her, anyway? You never go anywhere.”

Hardy sighed.

“Unless it was a Tinder date.” Ellie watched Hardy for a reaction and noticed him clench his jaw. Her face split into a wide smile. “It was! It was a cheeky Tinder date!”

“Shut up.”

“Alec Hardy on Tinder… Let me see your profile.”

“God no.”

“Did you take the picture yourself?”

“Daisy set it up, all right?” he snapped. “How do you know so much about it, anyway?”

Ellie smiled. There was something about Hardy grudgingly allowing his daughter to set him up a dating profile that warmed her heart. She wondered if it had been the same when she was younger and if he had let her paint his nails or do his hair.

“Lucy made me get one about a year ago,” she told him. “It was just a bit of fun, really. Never met up with anyone but it was nice to get the odd compliment throughout the day. Little self esteem boosts here and there.”

He studied her over the top of his glasses and Ellie felt her smile melt away in self-consciousness. There was no way of knowing what he was thinking.

“The whole thing is idiotic,” he said with disdain. “It’s such a tacky way of meeting people. There’s no surprise. Everyone already knows why you’re using the app. It’s like… online shopping for love.”

He had given up all pretence of working and Ellie was staring at him, open mouthed.

“You can’t seriously find someone like that! Unless it’s for a quick shag. It’s impossible to connect with someone.” He turned his chair to face her properly and Ellie had a flashback to being in school when the teacher would ask her a question when she had been daydreaming. “Imagine if we had met on Tinder. Hmm?”

Once more, Ellie was trying to imagine what the hell he had on his profile.

_Hardy. 45. Dislikes people, places and things._

“Imagine we had to build our relationship via _chat_. We’d hate each other and never actually meet!”

“If you were less abrupt over text-”

“But look at us!”

Ellie looked at them. She decided against mentioning that if their first meeting had happened in real life but without work forcing them to spend more time together she doubted she would have ever spoken to him again.

“We might have hit it off, you never know,” she said brightly instead. “You would have had to swipe right on me in the first place though.”

Hardy frowned. “Of course I would have.”

“What?” Ellie chuckled.

“You’re… you know.” Hardy went back to his computer and cleared his throat. “Stop looking at me like that.”

Ellie looked down at the statements without really seeing them. The conversation echoed around her head as she tried to work out an alternative meaning behind Hardy’s words but found none but the obvious conclusion.

Somewhere in the distance a phone rang and Hardy answered. She watched his long fingers clutch his mobile and wondered if she would - in this completely hypothetical dream world where they had found each other on Tinder of all places - have found him attractive enough to give him a second glance.

His perpetual scowl and constant look of exhaustion definitely counted against him. It was only really recently that they had become endearing rather than off-putting. Not that they were _endearing_ as such just-

“Miller, we need to get the garage.” Hardy stood and Ellie watched his limbs unfold and stretch his wrinkled shirt. From her seated position he looked impossibly tall. He slipped his jacket on and fiddled with his tie, making it even more crooked than it had been. “ _Now,_ Miller.”

Ellie hastily closed the folder in front of her, sirens ringing in her ears, and followed him out of the office.

_Shit. Shit, shit, shit. Shitshitshitshit-_

She knew for a fact which way she would swipe for Hardy and, unfortunately, she didn’t have the luxury of ignoring any compliments he accidentally slipped her way.


End file.
